There’s no doubt about it, Silicon Vally is in another bubble, and this time, clean tech is getting its piece of the pie. Clean-tech venture capital funding jumped 54% in the first quarter of 2011, with $1.1 billion pouring into green companies compared with $743.3 million in the first quarter of 2010. But the number of deals fell from 79 to 69, which means more money is being focused on fewer companies.

Could it be that investors are already to the point of weeding out the impractical ideas and funding promising green tech ventures? That would be exciting news for the energy industry in particular, which has struggled to pull itself into the green economy. Not all the funds are going to California: 30 deals were based in California, but 7 went to Massachusetts with a mix of other states bringing up the rear. Energy generation, energy storage, and natural gas ventures were the leaders in the new boom.